Tuesday, February 24, 2009

How Credit Default Swaps Work

This is a great article in Wired explaining how credit default swaps work.


"For five years, Li's formula, known as a Gaussian copula function, looked like an unambiguously positive breakthrough, a piece of financial technology that allowed hugely complex risks to be modeled with more ease and accuracy than ever before. With his brilliant spark of mathematical legerdemain, Li made it possible for traders to sell vast quantities of new securities, expanding financial markets to unimaginable levels."

The article explains what happened in very accessible terms.

Joe Biden, Real Man of Genius


See the video here.

Monday, February 23, 2009

We need to look at the situation, the hierarchy, the power relationship here.


Thank God yahoos like this didn't go to my school.  The video is hilarious.  

It's from the failed NYU Food Court Revolution.  The demands of these knuckleheads:



1. Full legal and disciplinary amnesty for all parties involved in the occupation.
2. Full compensation for all employees whose jobs were disrupted during the course of the occupation.
3. Public release of NYU’s annual operating budget, including a full list of university expenditures, salaries for all employees compensated on a semester or annual basis, funds allocated for staff wages, contracts to non-university organizations for university construction and services, financial aid data for each college, and money allocated to each college, department, and administrative unit of the university. Furthermore, this should include a full disclosure of the amount and sources of the university’s funding.
4. Disclosure of NYU’s endowment holdings, investment strategy, projected endowment growth, and persons, corporations and firms involved in the investment of the university’s endowment funds. Additionally, we demand an endowment oversight body of students, faculty and staff who exercise shareholder proxy voting power for the university’s investments.
5. That the NYU Administration agrees to resume negotiations with GSOC/UAW Local 2110 – the union for NYU graduate assistants, teaching assistants, and research assistants. That NYU publicly affirm its commitment to respect all its workers, including student employees, by recognizing their right to form unions and to bargain collectively. That NYU publicly affirm that it will recognize workers’ unions through majority card verification.
6. That NYU signs a contract guaranteeing fair labor practices for all NYU employees at home and abroad. This contract will extend to subcontracted workers, including bus drivers, food service employees and anyone involved in the construction, operation and maintenance at any of NYU’s non-U.S. sites.
7. The establishment of a student elected Socially Responsible Finance Committee. This Committee will have full power to vote on proxies, draft shareholder resolutions, screen all university investments, establish new programs that encourage social and environmental responsibility and override all financial decisions the committee deems socially irresponsible, including investment decisions. The committee will be composed of two subcommittees: one to assess the operating budget and one to assess the endowment holdings. Each committee will be composed of ten students democratically elected from the graduate and under-graduate student bodies. All committee decisions will be made a strict majority vote, and will be upheld by the university. All members of the Socially Responsible Finance Committee will sit on the board of trustees, and will have equal voting rights. All Socially Responsible Finance Committee and Trustee meetings shall be open to the public, and their minutes made accessible electronically through NYU’s website. Elections will be held the second Tuesday of every March beginning March 10th 2009, and meetings will be held biweekly beginning the week of March 30th 2009.
8. That the first two orders of business of the Socially Responsible Finance committee will be:
a) An in depth investigation of all investments in war and genocide profiteers, as well as companies profiting from the occupation of Palestinian territories.
b) A reassessment of the recently lifted of the ban on Coca Cola products.
9. That annual scholarships be provided for thirteen Palestinian students, starting with the 2009/2010 academic year. These scholarships will include funding for books, housing, meals and travel expenses.
10. That the university donate all excess supplies and materials in an effort to rebuild the University of Gaza.
11. Tuition stabilization for all students, beginning with the class of 2012. All students will pay their initial tuition rate throughout the course of their education at New York University. Tuition rates for each successive year will not exceed the rate of inflation, nor shall they exceed one percent. The university shall meet 100% of government-calculated student financial need.
12. That student groups have priority when reserving space in the buildings owned or leased by New York University, including, and especially, the Kimmel Center.
13. That the general public have access to Bobst Library.




Friday, February 20, 2009

Ha!

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

If a Presidential Action Isn't Reported to the White House Press Corps, Does It Make A Sound?


More about the "change" that Obama is bringing to Washington.  It would be nice if the press took as adversarial a role as they did during the Bush administration.

And Now Sen. Schumer Wishes He Had Actually Read the Stimulus Bill


Unbelievable.  

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

More Doublespeak from Obama

Some random campaign promises:

1.  He would go through the federal budget line by line and get rid of waste
2.  He would post all bills for at least five days on the internet before signing them

The anointed one has gotten off to a bad start.  Not a single bill has been put up for public review.  And we just tripled the national debt with the "stimulus" package.

The package was passed so quickly because of the dire emergency that members of congress did not even have time to read it before voting on it.  But guess what, once it was passed, Obama took a nice weekend vacation and then travelled to Denver for a ceremonial signing 5 days after passage!  If it was such an emergency....

Claudia Rosette has a good commentary here.

Monday, February 16, 2009

More Amazing Ideas from the Greens



First up, people who get rid of their fridge to reduce their carbon footprint.  And how do they cope?  They bring home ice from the ice machine at work.  I guess that doesn't have a carbon footprint, does it?  The really bad thing is that the moronic reporter from the NY Times doesn't even see the connection.  If you can't do, teach.  If you can't teach, report.

Next up, The Guardian, where they are reporting on a plan in Britain to use speed bumps to generate electricity.  The reporter, who must have slept through the first and second laws of thermodynamics, credulously reports that this power will be "free."  Granted, some small amount of energy that would have been wasted may get captured, but the deflection of the speed bump will steal even more kinetic energy from the car, meaning more smoke up the tailpipe.  Nothing in this universe is free. 



Thursday, February 12, 2009

How We Select Our Leaders


A guy who used to work for me sent me this story, which is NOT a good sign!  The article has some interesting insights into how we perceive leadership.  If you look at how we pick our political leaders, you definitely can see that we pick the ones who talk the most.  Chuck Schumer would be a perfect example.

The article is here.

Monday, February 9, 2009

Ha


A friend sent me this picture.  Why does this guy think that the Morans need to get a brain?

Seriously, I am amazed at what people will put on a sign without checking first.  Our educational system at its best.  I guess this guy's self esteem is perfectly intact, even if his spelling is not.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Bacon Scented Air Freshener

Available from Amazon.  Clear the air after you eat the Bacon Explosion.

Bacon Flavored Dental Floss


Available at Amazon.  Clean your teeth after eating the Bacon Explosion.

Monday, February 2, 2009

Michael Phelps Congratulates the Cardinals on their Bodacious Win

The Borowitz report.  Funny stuff.

"The Cardinals really tore it up last night," said Mr. Phelps, who said he saw almost the entire game until he got "a wicked attack of the munchies" late in the fourth quarter.

"Maybe it was the Doritos commercial, I don't know, but suddenly I got unbelievably hungry," said Mr. Phelps, giggling uncontrollably. "I was like, man, I have got to get me some Doritos, stat!"


Sunday, February 1, 2009

Hmmm... Obama is Going to Preserve Rendition as an Option


From the LA Times:  Obama has issued an executive order declaring the CIA can still use renditions.  Obama and the rest of the left have been excoriating Bush for years over this policy.  I guess now that Obama has seen the intelligence briefings, he has realized that there really are bad people out there who would like to do us harm.  The left and the media will give Obama a free pass on this.  Hope and change and all that.

Bacon Flavored Jellybeans


More bacon - well, bacon jellybeans anyway.  Get 'em from Amazon.

Kill the Zombie Timewaster

Kill the zombies before they kill you.  A macabre timewaster.

A Great Timewaster

Bloxorz, one of the best timewasters I've come across.  Addictive.